During a criminal trial involving allegations of sexual assault, the Crown sought to qualify a police detective as an expert in the operation of Facebook features and Microsoft Word functions relevant to the creation of a document allegedly copied from a Facebook News Feed.
The defence challenged the scope and usefulness of the proposed expert evidence, arguing that the detective lacked sufficient expertise regarding Facebook’s technical coding in 2009 and could not conclusively authenticate the document.
Applying the criteria for admissibility of expert evidence from R. v. Mohan, the court found the proposed testimony relevant and necessary to assist the trier of fact in understanding technical aspects of copying, pasting, hyperlinks, and auto-correct features.
The court concluded the detective possessed specialized knowledge through training and investigative experience and that any limitations in his expertise affected weight rather than admissibility.
The detective was therefore qualified to provide expert opinion within the proposed areas.
